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Old inspiration
2019-02-26 
Hong Kong designer Alan Chan shows a collection of antiques and his designs fashioned after traditional crafts. [Photo provided to China Daily]

An exhibition highlights the revival of old handicraft through a modern approach, Lin Qi reports. 

Alan Chan, the Hong Kong designer, artist and curator, has in his studio a library of objects of craft that he has collected from across the world over the past three decades. He didn't inquire about the function of some of these things when buying them. But gradually, studying their shape, materials and making has brought great inspiration to his work.

Among Chan's collection are several objects of curiosity dating back more than a century, including a set of books published in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), with dozens of seal marks on the pages. The classy and neat design of the books impressed Chan so much that he calls them "a national treasure".

"Chinese seals are the best examples of graphic design," he says.

Chan also has an 18th century lacquer box believed to have been created during the reign of emperor Yongzheng and used in the royal court. Its exterior features refined carving that resembles a piece of cloth wrapped around the box and tied into a knot.

Chan says the items in his collection help him discover wisdom that goes back a long time, "which I cannot find elsewhere".

He has incorporated artistic elements of these artifacts into his own product designs, with the packaging of his tea brand being an example.

"A craft work represents an identity. The craftsmanship, the materials used in an object and its shape tell people what age it belongs to and how people lived at the time. It is like a seal of time."

A ceramic collection named Sky Blue by artist Huo Yijin. Huo's work draws artistic elements from ancient Ru ware, a rare type of Chinese porcelain famous for its pale-blue glaze. [Photo provided to China Daily]

This explains why after Chan was invited to exhibit at Craft: The Reset, an exhibition being held in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, through Thursday, he turned the space meant for him into a miniature library that juxtaposes his designs and some old items from his collection, and invites the audience to study the connection between the two.

Design Society, a hub for cultural activities in Shenzhen's Shekou district, is hosting the exhibition at its main gallery to show how the work of contemporary designers sheds new light on traditional crafts and materials, which, as Chan says, "would always have value for people to preserve and inherit".

Craft: The Reset shows how designers and artists, at home and abroad, have revived old handicraft through a modern approach and aesthetics that are of new value to people.

Ole Bouman, director of Design Society, says what the featured designers have been doing should not be interpreted as creating "a nostalgic feeling for old-fashioned craft and traditions" but instead they demonstrate a flexibility in adopting new technology and cultural experiences and reflecting contemporary ways of living and doing business.

He says their practice shows that craft can play an important role in envisioning the future, uniting communities and protecting the environment.

Designer Huo Yijin sources inspiration from the 1,000-year-old Ru ware, a rare type of Chinese porcelain famous for its pale-blue glaze. The color is often referred to as sky blue.

Huo, who is also a lecturer at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, designed a ceramic series named Sky Blue in 2016 that is shown at the ongoing exhibition. The vases are fashioned in the shape of Ru ware and wear a mellow glaze with gray shades. But rather than reiterating the elegant brilliance of Ru porcelain, Huo dwells on air pollution that has deprived many Chinese cities of a blue sky. The glaze of each vase from his series corresponds to a changing color of the sky when subjected to different levels of polluted air.

Artist Yang Mingjie uses bamboo and plastics to create an installation in reminiscence of classic Chinese gardens. [Photo by Lin Qi/China Daily]

Huo is enlightened more by the aesthetic ideas behind age-old handicraft than the techniques. He experiments with 3D printing to produce several containers in which he reproduces the pattern he found in daily pottery items of the Dai ethnic group. His designs, which are also on display at the exhibition, transfer the refined beauty of Dai pottery to urban life.

Huo studies the handicrafts of the Dai people when traveling to their villages in Yunnan province. He says today's designs can find nutrition from Dai craft, which is "close to the nature of materials, the core of beauty and the essence of life".

Some designers on show have upgraded their individual interest in craft to the level of public benefit.

The designers group of Zhang Lei from China, Jovana Zhang from Serbia and Christoph John from Germany established a nonprofit called Rong Design Library in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, in 2015. There they are building a database of traditional materials and handicrafts, based on their research across the country since 2009. They also operate a studio called Pinwu.

Zhang Lei says they hope to share their findings of Chinese craft with not just more designers at home and abroad but also people who visit their nonprofit. The research will help build connections with workshops that preserve such craft skills in different provinces, he adds.

Their showroom at the exhibition, with their designs and collection of craft objects, provides a sample of what they've been working on in Hangzhou.

Chan says no matter how powerful social media become, people still like to have a naked-eye view and a tangible touch of different materials.

"The brilliance about craft is that although it doesn't actually talk, still it 'speaks' with different people in different ways of communication."

Contact the writer at linqi@chinadaily.com.cn

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